Ai / Ai
The Ai surname is currently uncommon and has two recorded pronunciations, ài and huì. It is distributed in places including Zhanhua in Shandong, Taiyuan and Datong in Shanxi, Hancheng in Shaanxi, Tacheng in Xinjiang, Laokou in Hubei, and Congjiang in Guizhou; it is found among both Han and Manchu people.
One branch is traced to the Uyghur people and the descendants of Aie Wు, the chancellor of the Western Uyghur kingdom during the Tang dynasty. The Tang court gave him the Chinese name Ai Hongshun. This branch is pronounced huì and honors Aie Wु as its founding ancestor.
Besides the Uyghur-origin branch, the Ai surname also appears through sinicized surname changes among other ethnic groups. The material specifically records Ai surnames among the Manchu and Mongolian peoples today.
One branch is of Arab origin, descending from Aishu, a Fulin person from western Syria who spoke Arabic, and adopted a sinicized surname. Among his descendants, some took Ai as a surname based on the Chinese transcription of their ancestor's name; this branch is pronounced ài.
The Ai surname is associated with the Xihe commandery. Its recorded hall names are Xihe Hall, Yili Hall, and Liaodong Hall, each established from a commandery association.
The Ai surname was active mainly in northern and northwestern regions in its early period. After migration inland, it formed a prominent lineage in Shanxi; after the Song dynasty, it had limited distribution in Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shaanxi.
Ai Zeng was a peasant-rebellion leader during Xin Mang; Ai Shen was a Jin dynasty military commander; and Ai Xue was a Yuan dynasty scholar who knew the languages of the Western Regions and was skilled in calendrical astronomy and medicine, receiving the posthumous title King of Fulin.
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